Pres. Rouhani: Culture most important destination of development plansShabestan news agency:Stating that cinema is not a problem, but an important part of solutions to Iran’s today and tomorrow problems and that of our beloved young people, President Rouhani emphasised: "Our cinema must attract talented and thoughtful young people from all over the Iranian land and be rooted in the soil and rise towards the sky”.

Dr Hassan Rouhani wrote a message that was read by Dr Seyyed Abbas Salehi, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance at the closing ceremony of the Thirty-Sixth Fajr Film Festival on Sunday, stating that human resource development, organisational development, capital resources development, technology development, providing legal and equipment infrastructure, being more active in the world cultural diplomacy, branding, marketing and creative development of the market, and eventually designing and developing product delivery strategies will be among our most important cinema programs.

The President wrote in his message: “Today, the experts in this field do not consider culture as a mere infrastructure or simply a superstructure of the development of societies. Today, "culture" is both infrastructure and superstructure. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, we know culture as the most important destination of development plans”.

“The concurrent emergence of three phenomena at the same time: the Internet, smart phones, social networks, that combine to overcome the media system and the heart and minds of all the inhabitants of the planet, make those who are active in the field of our cinema to employ them as intellectual and artistic content,” the President continued.

He also wrote: “People look for their life, identity, dreams, sufferings, happiness and hopes in the depths of cinematic stories. Perhaps this aspect of cinema is one of the most important reasons for its popularity. The cinema can provide such a place for collective search to help find the answers for our people”.

“Cinema is one of the most effective cultural and artistic tools that today’s human has discovered to introduce and convey its messages and achievements and its civilisation. But a civilisation can have the hope of survival, fertility and the reproduction of its values that manages its transition process with its promotion, considers it vital, surrounds its own strengths and weaknesses from a strategic perspective, and then, do not overlook the injection of "hope" to the society for a single second”.

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also wrote in his letter: “Our cinema must re-recognize its cultural and civilization field, and while the "religious and national culture" and "issues of Iran" are always the most important axis and subject, they seek to gain an even greater share of the field of culture and art of other lands and also the world economy of the image industry”.

“The huge job opportunities that exist in cinema, its ability to create vitality and hope in society and being informative are the features of this cinema. Our cinema, by presenting the scientific and artistic expression of the problems of society and criticising the policies, approaches and practices of the government and the influential institutions of society, can be a factor in the development and elimination of obstacles facing the society”.

“Imam Khomeini (RA) said: In the Islamic Republic, all should open the way for the happiness of society through criticism and expressing the problems,” wrote the President.

He wrote: “The cinema, by expressing and new issues and ideas, can prepare the community for confronting them. By going to the natural and historical atmospheres of our land, as well as reflecting and introducing thousands of rituals, religious, and national events with the advancement of the tourism industry, it will lead to the advancement of technology and the development of startups with the foundation of knowledge”.

Dr Rouhani finished his letter: “This cinema can give the community a sense of relaxation, protect the social stability, and heal the breaks, bring joy and vitality, strengthen the law and morality that regulate social relations, the sense of security, independence and national authority”.